Document Type

Article

Original Publication Date

2020

Journal/Book/Conference Title

PeerJ

Volume

8:e9272

First Page

1

Last Page

22

DOI of Original Publication

10.7717/peerj.9272

Comments

Originally published at https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.9272.

Funded in part by the VCU Libraries Open Access Publishing Fund.

Date of Submission

August 2020

Abstract

Monkeypox (MPX) is a zoonotic disease similar to smallpox. Its fatality rate is about 11% and it is endemic to the Central and West African countries. In this paper, we analyze a compartmental model of MPX dynamics. Our goal is to see whether MPX can be controlled and eradicated by voluntary vaccinations. We show that there are three equilibria—disease free, fully endemic and previously neglected semi-endemic (with disease existing only among humans). The existence of semi-endemic equilibrium has severe implications should the MPX virus mutate to increased viral fitness in humans. We find that MPX is controllable and can be eradicated in a semi-endemic equilibrium by vaccination. However, in a fully endemic equilibrium, MPX cannot be eradicated by vaccination alone.

Rights

© 2020 Bankuru et al. Licence This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, reproduction and adaptation in any medium and for any purpose provided that it is properly attributed.

Is Part Of

VCU Mathematics and Applied Mathematics Publications

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